Replies to post #91810 on Tornado Alley (PROG)

[arizona1]

Well I say we put it to a national vote. How many people in Bachman's district do you think will like this idea:

If the people in her district were stupid enough to elect her to congress, they probably don't even know that SS and Medicare are government programs.

[n4807g]

Perhaps you should start by reeducating all those folks who are truly clueless about the so called the "Social Security Trust Fund". It's astonishing how often it's quoted as the savior of the system when in reality it isn't. Every politician in the country knows it. If people don't understand this simple accounting deceit the rest of the arguments are rendered meaningless. We do live in a fairy tale.

govinfo.library.unt.edu/csss/reports/Report-Interim.pdf

(sorry it doesn't show as a link, copy & paste)

The Clinton administration’s fiscal year 2000 budget made the point succinctly:

“These [Trust Fund] balances are available to finance future benefit payments and other Trust Fund expenditures – but only in a bookkeeping sense. … They do not consist of real economic
assets that can be drawn down in the future to fund benefits. Instead, they are claims on the Treasury that, when redeemed, will have to be financed by raising taxes, borrowing from the public, or reducing benefits or other expenditures. The existence of large Trust Fund balances, therefore, does not, by itself, have any impact on the Government’s ability to pay benefits.”

Beginning in 2016 Social Security’s Costs Will Exceed Its Tax Revenue. There are two Trust Funds – one for Old Age and Survivors Insurance and a second for Disability Insurance. In practice, however, they are treated essentially as a single entity.

Oh...by the way; the 2016 date was too optimistic. It's running a deficit now!